David Chacko

Some of David's Work

The Satan Machine - The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II was like no other public attack in the extraordinarily violent twentieth century, but the event is still cloaked in mystery. The Satan Machine takes us down to street level to show how it all came about. And it isn't the way we thought at all.

The God App - When Greg Louden is called in to investigate a theft of intellectual property at a software firm, he never dreams that lines of code are things that people will kill and die for. But when past crimes and huge amounts of money are involved, what people will do is measured by what they want. And in this case that's everything.

The Byzantium Stone - Samson Mondieu, the designated treasure hunter, is sent to track down a remarkable gemstone. Said to be God-made, it was last seen during the fall of Constantinople. Slowly, Samson comes to realize that what he is searching for is less a mystical object then the bedrock of the secret that drives all the other secrets. But that's not all he will discover. When he delivers The Byzantium Stone to its latest master, he will be forced to choose between love and the promise of forever.

Beggarman, Spy - written with co-author Alexander Kulcsar. The biography of Israel Potter created a sensation when it was first published. Potter's tale was so strange and compelling that Herman Melville later made it his own in fiction. But no one has ever known Potter's true-life tale, which was hidden for more than two hundred years. Beggarman, Spy brings the truth out of the shadows of history with grace and vengeance. It makes a great adventure into an even greater story.

The Brimstone Papers - written with co-author Alexander Kulcsar. From the furious mantrap called the Battle of Bunker Hill to a raging disaster at sea, The Brimstone Papers tells the first year of the Revolutionary War as no one has ever thought to do. The story, based on the peripatetic life of a real man, is as rooted in its time as it is relevant to ours.

Gone Over - written with co-author Alexander Kulcsar. Gone Over is the story of the American Revolution seen through the reverse lens of British Intelligence—a view never quite seen before. Israel Potter is the best known private soldier of the Revolution, and his story takes the reader through the maelstrom of the war. From a beginning in captivity, Potter’s life touches every major figure of this secret war, starting with the underground Friends of America in England and continuing through Benjamin Franklin’s mission in Paris until it finally returns to the home front and the defection of Benedict Arnold.

Devil's Feathers - Inspector Levent, Istanbul Homicide, is on vacation when his most sensational case is handed off to him. How can he stop the past from invading the present with fire that literally burns its victims alive? What kind of vengeance consumes without ever being quenched? Devil's Feathers answers these questions and more.

Echo Five - Echo Five takes place at the end of the world where terror is the norm and the heat arrives from the rim of hell. Jason Ender, who has been assigned to debrief high value terrorists in the Horn of Africa, finds himself caught in a rising tide of violence that begins with the death of a young female interrogator—Echo Five—and ends with the discovery of a plot that threatens to pull the plug on the petroleum lifeline to the West.

The Severan Prophecies - When the Roman emperor Caracalla was assassinated, his family gave the task of safeguarding their dynasty to the questor Marcellus Decimus, the narrator of this story. How he led a young boy named Varius in a race against death that culminated in the restoration of the dynasty is one of the more remarkable episodes in the chaotic and violent history of Rome.

Martyr's Creek - When your worst enemy makes you the executor of his estate, you don't expect an easy time. What James Pandolph discovers in settling Tom Powys' considerable estate is nothing compared to what is required settling the passions of his life. This includes neo-conservative politics at the highest level and the bodies that have fallen at every step along the way.

Graveyard Eyes - The torture and murder of a prominent businesswoman launches a police investigation that ruffles the collar of the gigantic city of Istanbul. Inspector Levent, the man the department calls when discretion is demanded, uses all his skills to make his way through a maze of sex and hot money, obscured at every turn by the realities of power. When he reaches the pinnacle of society, the discoveries that he makes provide a scintillating top-down view of Turkey, the Moslem country on the verge of entry into the EU.

The Peacock Angel - Jason Ender, the acknowledged master of the espionage game, leads a team of dedicated people in a desperate hunt for a mysterious, ancient religious icon. With the future of the Middle East at stake, Ender soon discovers that despite his vast talents and skills, he may be fated for death by powerful forces determined to take and use the icon for their own purposes. From the streets of Zurich to the mountains of Italy and the hills of Mesopotamia, the action rolls inexorably toward the surprising and unexpected conclusion.

Less Than a Shadow - As hot as today's headlines. Turkey, the front line of democracy in the Middle East, is about to suffer a devastating terrorist attack. Jason Ender stands alone on the rim of chaos with orders to prevent it, whatever the price.

Like a Man - Czech paratroopers make a night-drop into their Nazi-occupied homeland during WW II. Their objective? To kill the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany. They accomplish their mission against insurmountable odds, then seek safety in the catacombs of an ancient church. When confronted by an entire SS regiment, their chances of escape are slim to none.

A Long Way From Eden - When a sinkhole freakishly erupts, the decaying remains of a young woman surface. Homicide detectives are forced to dig ever more deeply along twisted, dangerous paths into the past. Their journey makes for a haunting, teeth-grinding tale.

A lot of what a writer does at the desk is the result of research being plugged into what happened every day of his life up to that point. Where he's born doesn't mean a lot except that's part of what he brings to the work. So let's say I was born in a small town in Western Pennsylvania where the coal mines closed thirty years before, then let's say that I found my way to New York and Ohio and New England and Florida and Istanbul with lot of stops along the way.

I don't remember much about most of those places except that I was there in all of them and I was thinking. One of the things I was thinking about, because I'm always thinking about it, is the way people and governments lie to themselves and others. Those two thingsthe inside and the outside of the truthmight be the same thing, really. That place of seeming contradictions is where I live. And that's where every last bit of The Satan Machine comes from.

The lies piled up around the attempted assassination of the pope like few events in the history of man. Most of it had to do with geopolitics, especially those strange days when the world was divided into two competing blocs that were both sure they were right in trying to dominate. So an event that was put through the gigantic meat grinder was one that would be mangled nearly forever.

That's what I've been thinking about itthe hamburger, so to speak. The results will be told in several blog entries, so you might want to mosey over to Amazon. I can guarantee you a good time.

Alexander Kulcsar

Alexander Kulcsar is the co-author of The Brimstone Papers, Gone Over and Beggarman, Spy. He is an actor, dramatist, video producer, and freelance writer specializing in American History. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut.